Whitney Thomas and Bill Smith
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – An attorney says the Arkansas Bar Association is trying to limit her freedom of speech after she was detained by police and then removed from the organization’s meeting in Hot Springs last week.
Jennifer Standerfer said she brought petitions to get the Arkansas Government Disclosure Act and its Amendment on the November ballot to meetings at the Hot Springs Convention Center on Friday.
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Standerfer, who serves as a committee member for the ballot sponsor, Arkansas Citizens for Transparency, told KARK 4 News that was why the chaos began.
“All morning people came after me and accused me of all kinds of things,” Standerfer said.
The Bentonville attorney said she attends the convention annually and made it clear she would take petitions to a member of the bar.
“She mentioned that the convention center had a policy on petitions, but the bar association doesn’t have a position,” Standerfer recalled, adding that she never asked for people’s signatures at the meeting.
A statement from the bar association sent Friday notes that the convention center itself has a policy against solicitation, including petitioning.
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On Tuesday night, Arkansas Citizens for Transparency released materials that the group says were obtained through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and that they say show the bar association also wanted to restrict petitions .
Convention center staff documents released by the group state that Standerfer had been at Thursday’s meeting with petitions and a cart with a sign attached to it, adding that police had asked him to leave the premises. The documents go on to say Standerfer had a meeting with convention center administrators Thursday afternoon.
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According to the documents, a bar association representative sent a text message Friday to convention center administrators asking their staff to ask Standerfer to leave since she had petitioned again.
Video released through the FOIA request shows officers first telling Standerfer that they were asking her to leave and then handcuffing her and removing her from a room at the location after she said she would not leave.
Footage later shows Standerfer telling an officer, “They just don’t want me here,” to which another officer responds, “Well, that’s actually the case.”
Standerfer says being kicked out of the event was illegal and against her First Amendment rights. She said she hired a lawyer and, although she is not sure what is to come, for now she will continue to push the petitions.
“People are actively trying to keep petitions out of their space, and I never expected the bar to do that and I certainly never expected a public building to do that,” Standerfer said.
KARK 4 News reached out to the Arkansas Bar Association for a statement on the most recent developments in this story. At the time of publishing this report, there has been no response.
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